Ashes 2023: Usman Khawaja, Ricky Ponting question ball change after series ends at 2-2

Australia batsman Usman Khawaja agreed with Ricky Ponting's questioning on ball change in the visitors' second innings during the fifth Ashes Test. Australia eventually lost the Test by 49 runs as the five-match series stood equal at 2-2. The ball was changed in 37th over of the Australian innings on day four before play was halted due to rain and only 11 ball could be bowled prior to that.

The change came in after a Mark Wood-bouncer hit Khawaja on the head and the umpires deemed that it had gone out of shape. Khawaja, at the post-match presentation, however, said that the new ball was very different.

"We started off really well," Khawaja said. "The big thing was that ball. As soon as they changed that ball, the first over they changed that ball I knew straightaway this ball is very different. I went straight up to Kumar and said 'how old is this ball you've given them because it feels like it's about eight overs old.' You could see the writing on both sides and it hit my bat so hard.

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"Obviously I got hit in the head by Woody, and they changed the ball because they said it got damaged. But that new ball that came in, when I hit my bat … I've opened in every single innings this Ashes series and I haven't felt the ball hit my bat as hard as that ball felt when it hit my bat.

"So I said to the boys even coming into today (day 5) to be careful, this new ball, it's going to be tricky. It's going to be a lot harder than that other ball. Some things you can't control in this game. It was disappointing for us because I felt like we had a real stranglehold on that game."

The Aussie openers had added 140 runs before the ball change derailed their plans. Australia, after negotiating first 11 deliveries with the new ball, lost three early wickets in the first session of the day 5 to Mark Wood and Chris Woakes. Former Australia skipper Ponting also questioned the ball change and the condition on the new ball given to England during the lunch on day 5.

"I just cannot fathom how two international umpires that have done that a lot of times before can get that so wrong. That is a huge moment in this game, potentially a huge moment in the Test match, and something I think actually has to be investigated: whether there was the right condition of balls in the box, or the umpires have just, blasé, picked one out of there that they think will be okay to use," he said.

The second session was washed away with rain but the the third session again saw Australia losing wickets in clumps. Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes took five wickets together to leave Australia eight down and 90 short of 384-run target.

England's now-retired pacer Stuart Broad then took the final two wickets in his swansong in a fitting end to his lustrous career.

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